Electronic cigarette vapers have called for the EU to drop plans to regulate these products in the way recommended by the European Commission, according to a story in The Sunday Times.

One of the Tobacco Product Directive revisions that the Commission has recommended would see a limit placed on the nicotine content of electronic cigarettes that had not been authorized as medicinal products.

Such authorization would require the owners of these products to put them through lengthy and expensive clinical trials.

An online community of former smokers who now use electronic cigarettes has petitioned members of the European Parliament for support.

The group wants vaping and the electronic cigarette industry to be distinguished from smoking and the tobacco industry.

“We’ve been studying a proposed EU tobacco directive and giving feedback to the HSE [Health and Safety Executive],” The Times quoted Shane Dowling, a vaper from Newmarket-on-Fergus, County Clare, Ireland, as saying.

“We see e-cigs as a safer alternative to tobacco. We are worried that EU legislation will reduce nicotine in these products and if that happens they might not work so well.”

The directive, due to take effect in 2014, is to be discussed during Ireland’s presidency of the EU, which runs through the first half of this year.

The Department of Health said Ireland intended to use the chair of the European Council to pursue measures to reduce the prevalence of smoking, particularly among young people.

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